The present invention relates in general to hand tools and, more particularly, to a ratchet wrench which accommodates bolts having long threaded portions.
A ratchet wrench utilizes a pawl and ratchet gear for transmitting a driving force to a bolthead or nut via a socket. The wrench transmits driving force when rotated in one direction but allows slippage upon rotation in the opposite direction. Anyone involved in installation or service of mechanical equipment usually has a large variety of ratchet wrenches in his toolbox. It is expensive, however, to have a large variety of wrenches which perform basically identical functions, yet installation and service personnel are required to have such a large variety of wrenches, including ratchet wrenches, because mechanical designers are often forced to use a large variety of bolts and fastening devices on a single piece of equipment. The various nuts and bolts used in such equipment may have different nut and bolthead configurations, therefore sockets associated with a single ratchet wrench often must have correspondingly wide variation in configurations. Furthermore, there are many instances when mechanical equipment contains nuts and bolts in positions which are not easily accessible due to surrounding equipment. One solution to the problem of bolt inaccessibility is to provide a long adapter for mounting the socket on the wrench handle. The adapter can extend into otherwise inaccessible areas to reach nuts or boltheads located in such positions.
Therefore, a socket set often includes a ratchet wrench and a number of sockets each designed to accept a nut or bolt having a different size or configuration. Many socket sets also include a handle having a long socket adapter for reaching nuts or boltheads located in difficult areas. The sockets are attached to the ratchet wrench by inserting the metal extension or socket adapter of the ratchet wrench into an opening in the socket. So long as only boltheads or nuts attached to very short bolts are inserted into the socket they can be tightened or loosened using a socket on such an extension. However, if one attempts to tighten a nut to the point that a great length of the threaded bolt, for example more than 3/8 inch, extends into the socket, the socket will reject the nut. If one attempts to loosen a nut which is positioned on such a long bolt, the socket will likewise not accept the nut. The reason for this is that the metal extension of the ratchet wrench will come into contact with the bolt and, since the distance between the contact point and the outer edge of the socket is usually about 3/8 inch, a nut which is more than 3/8 inch from the end of the bolt will not be engaged by the socket.
Deep socket sets represent one solution to the problem associated with long bolts and often accept bolts having longer threaded portions, for instance up to 1/2 inch extension beyond the nut. However, mechanical equipment may comprise bolt shanks which extend 1/2 inch beyond the nut and thus, even these so-called deep socket sets will not adequately engage the nut. Furthermore, it is expensive to maintain a socket set having a complete set of sockets for each of several bolt lengths.
To accommodate bolts having threaded portions extending well beyond a nut, other socket sets include sockets mounted in a cavity in the wrench handle and having an inner bore which forms a passageway through the socket. However, nuts or boltheads located deep inside mechanical equipment cannot be reached by these socket sets as none has a socket adapter for reaching such nuts or boltheads.
Therefore, known ratchet wrenches or socket sets are not suitable for accommodating bolts having threaded sections which extend well beyond a nut and which are also located in a position which can only be reached by providing the wrench with an extended socket adapter. The present invention provides a ratchet wrench which overcomes these shortcomings and can perform wrenching operations on nuts associated with bolts that have threaded portions extending well beyond a nut and that are also located in areas of mechanical equipment which are ordinarily inaccessible to known wrenches or socket sets.